"The Republic of Kosovo is on the right path to the European Union, but we still need to work and transform Kosovo into a developed European state," he said minutes before the parade started.

The celebrations come just days after the EU published a scathing report highlighting Kosovo's failure to fight organized crime and corruption. The report was drafted to list what Kosovo needs in order to have visa requirements wavered when traveling into the EU zone. But it also focuses on the need to implement the rule of law.

"I don't think it was a surprise to Kosovo," Samuel Zbogar, the top EU official in Kosovo, told The Associated Press in an interview Friday. "We know there are issues with the rule of law, we know there are issues with corruption, we know that there are still not all the laws in place and we know that the laws are not being implemented."